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Issue #26
Posted June 8, 2008
Serving Hillsdale. Supported by The Hillsdale Alliance
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In This Issue
Slow start for MV Market
Galati's alarming farewell
Food Front board elections
CornonaKeys

Commentary:

A seasonal change
in publication

With the arrival of summer, I'm temporarily changing the publishing schedule of The News. I've been putting this on-line newsletter out every other week for most of the last year. When events have called for it, I've put out special issues - and I will continue to do so.

But this summer the regular news cycle will become more "occasional." In late September, I'll return to the more-or-less, every-other-week schedule.

Why the change? There really is less happening in the summer. Local "newsmakers" leave town. We all relax - or at least we try to.

Another reason for the change is a new course I'm teaching at Portland Community College starting later this month. New courses take a lot more preparation time. This one, "Mass Media and Society," is a monster although it is not technically "new" to me.  It's hard to believe, but I last taught it 35 years ago. A few things have changed in both media and society since 1973.

I have a little catching up to do.

Readership update

After nearly a year of publication, The News is just shy of the 400-subscriber goal I set for it when the first issue came out in July 2007. I had hoped to reach the goal by last December and probably could have if I had gone door to door or hawked for new subscriber's in the wet and cold at the winter Farmers' Market.

Life is too short. I figured I'd let the subscription list grow organically, and it has.

The 400 subscriber "circulation" is conservative because it doesn't include the 15 readers who, on average, drop by the web site each day. There are repeat visitors among them, but site visits probably account for another 200 readers.

By the way, if you are one of these drop-in visitors and want The News e-mailed to you, just put your e-mail address in the "join" box above.

So count yourself in a crowd of some 600.

Thanks for reading The News ,and remember, I'm always open to suggestions for improvement. E-mail: [email protected]

Rick Seifert
Editor
Letter to the Editor

Opposition is
no sign of error


Since arriving here in the early 1990s, I have always had the vision of a city government where I elect a representative, not an administrator.

Instead, Portland holds on to a form of government that the courts and voters have thrown out in most every other city.

The fact that the present city council would rather be administrators than representatives, and that our city voters seem to actually prefer it that way does not deter me from my vision.

How does this square with "When vision ignores the present," the editor's commentary in the last issue?

I believe the editor is too short-sighted in his conclusions that there is error if there is opposition at present. Timing is frequently the issue that slows things down, not vision.

The shared vision that created the Farmers' Market took years to obtain. The vision of an outdoor community covered space in the Rieke Triangle area should not be abandoned because of some user's attitudes.

Visions become reality because of extraordinary effort to remove barriers and accomplish inclusion.  And while unanimity may seem nice, better solutions come about when the many sides of an issue are considered, even if all cannot be fully accommodated.

The Hillsdale Town Center Plan did not imagine everything being accomplished immediately. Likewise, the present planning that has taken place for the Rieke Triangle should not be dismissed as being in error when barriers arise.

Integration of the Wilson Park residential area, the schools, and the commercial area have been part of our collective visioning discussion since the days of the Wilson Neighborhood Association.

You, the readers who share this vision, need to focus upon how this can be accomplished rather than upon barriers of the moment.
 
Glenn Bridger
SW Vincent Place

(Editor's note: Glenn Bridger is a former Hillsdale Neighborhood Association president and the out-going chair of Southwest Neighborhoods Inc.)
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Hillsdale to get new street and lots
Change consistent with Town Center concept

dewitt mapHillsdale's "Sunset Triangle" is about to get a new street and ten new lots.

The Triangle is just north of the Hillsdale Town Center's commercial core and is bounded by SW Capitol Highway, SW 18th Drive and Sunset Boulevard.

The area was zoned for higher  housing densities 10 years ago, and  property owner Lance Johnson is the first to take advantage of the change, turning one large, deep lot into ten.

He recently had his house and garage demolished and will soon start on a new street with a familiar name - Dewitt. The two-lane entry to the new lots at 5920 SW 18th (see red dot on map) may eventually wend its way across the triangle if others divide their lots.

The new street will run along the north border of the Johnson property and will be wide enough for two cars to pass and for parking. But, Johnson noted, although the new street will be wide, it is positioned as a half-street. The other half will be built when, and if,  the owner of the adjacent property decides to sub-divide.

The configuration of the Dewitt connection eastward to Sunset depends on what the city requires other property owners to do, if and when they decide to subdivide, said Johnson.

Duane Hunting, the Hillsdale Neighborhood Association's land-use chair, said that Johnson's development "is consistent with the master planning that the neighborhood has worked out with the city as a concept."

The concept calls for Dewitt to make an S-curve through the center of the triangle, with alleys coming off it. Houses would be built along the street. An advantage to the S-curve is that it would discourage cut-through traffic.

The concept also calls for a pedestrian path running down from near the triangle's northern apex, through the center of the area, to the commercial area, said Hunting.

"Now the question is: who is going to develop it and how fast?" said Hunting.

It has taken Johnson three years of reviews and approvals to get to where he is with his plans, and more approvals are needed before he can begin dividing up lots along the new street. Street, sidewalk and sewer changes will proceed over the next four months. He expects final approval in a matter of weeks.

He said that those who follow his example will probably have an easier time of it because the city now knows what it wants to require of developers.

Johnson's plan calls for six 2500 square-foot lots for attached  townhouses.  Lot sizes for separate houses vary: one is 5000 square feet, two are 3000 square feet and one is 9000 square feet.

An uncertain housing market  has Johnson pondering his options. He may sell off all the lots to one developer. He may hold back one for himself. He may sell them one by one as demand increases.  Or he may build them himself.

He prefers one developer for the entire project, saying, "When one person does it, we have a better chance to make sure it is planned out right."

Johnson said that pricing the properties is also difficult in the current market.  He prefers homes of the popular "Craftsman-style" revival.

That Johnson could turn one lot into 10 underscores the real estate potential of homes with deep lots along Sunset and SW 18th. Although the properties are part of a subdivision with private lot-division deed restrictions, no one in the subdivision challenged Johnson's plans.

The rezoning of the triangle for higher densities was part of the Hillsdale Town Center Plan approved by the city and designated by the Metro regional government.  Planners hope that higher density housing in areas close to bus lines and businesses will take pressure off expanding the urban growth boundary and will encourage the use of mass transit.

Later this summer, the Town Center will be studied by Sera, a design  consulting firm, with an eye to guiding  and encouraging development.  Under Sera's plan with the city planning bureau, the community will have  opportunity to comment and make suggestions. Planning for the Sunset Triangle has been identified as an area of interest and concern.
Multnomah Farmers debut

Shoppers bundled up for the market next to the Multnomah Arts Center

Village Market has cold, slow start
Growth seen with warmer weather and field harvests

A wet, cold, delayed growing season deprived the new Multnomah Farmers' Market of goods to offer eager customers when the market debuted Thursday, June 5.

On a biting gray day, only five vendors were on hand under their white canopies. Several patrons left empty-handed. One disappointed shopper called the market's first day "pretty pathetic."

But market organizers are optimistic that the market, sponsored by the Multnomah Village Business Association, will become a hit as the weather warms.

In the two days prior to the grand opening, several vendors called market manager Eamon Molloy to say they had nothing to sell. "They went out in the fields and there just wasn't anything ready," he said.

Although many farmers have been growing in greenhouses, those stocks are now becoming depleted, Molloy said. The Multnomah Farmers' Market, which runs from 3:30 to 7:30 Thursday afternoons, felt like a winter market in Hillsdale, he added.

High demand in other farmers' markets has meant farmers have had to limit the number of markets they serve.

"Everyone was telling me I should have waited until after the Rose Festival parade," Molloy said as he presided over the little market encampment.

He is confident the market will pick up soon. Farmers are calling to ask whether space is available and he plans to "work the phones" over the weekend to expand Multnomah's offerings. "We'll have twice as many vendors next week," he vowed.
Joe Galati's farewell day
at Robert Gray begins alarmingly

Joe GalatiJoe Galati began "Joe Galati Day" at Robert Gray Middle School by ordering dozens of students to evacuate the building.

It was no joke for Vice Principal Galati, who, after nine years, is leaving Robert Gray to become principal at Chief Joseph School in north Portland.

An electrical short had triggered the school's fire alarm on Friday, June 6, just as students were arriving for a day that the school had dedicated to Galati's tenure.

With the alarm sounding,Galati, squawking walkie-talkie in hand, sprang to action, shepherding students out the doors, redirecting arriving school buses and ushering fire fighters into the building.

Once the problem was solved, Galati went back to being "Mister Galati" or "Mister G," marching down the halls exhorting kids to keep moving.

"Let's GO!" "Hurry, hurry, HURRY!" "If you don't get to CLASS, you just won't PASS!"

Galati, who is in charge of school discipline and scheduling among other things, does it all with a mixture of earnestness and good humor. Smile, frown, smile, frown, interspersed with the names of the kids.

He greets every student by name.

"Hailee, tell this man about me," he insists leaving the reporter standing next to a mildly perplexed eighth-grader.

Hailee Kaio doesn't hold back as the reporter takes notes. "He's very loud and assertive, but he gives you a lot of chances," she confides.

In the school year's final issue of the student newspaper, The Flagship, the editors strung together adjectives to describe the many sides of Galati. "Committed, Positive, Silly, Supportive, Energetic, Effervescent, Forbearing, Enthusiastic, Dedicated, Professional."

With the students finally rounded up for their first-period classes, Galati sits down to reflect on Robert Gray and the youngsters he has met, counseled and nurtured through their awkward early teens.

He says he will miss the school and the community. "I never thought I'd ever become attached to a place the way I have," he says, but, he adds, the experience has prepared him for his next job.

"Just as the kids have grown, I've grown. I've needed these years to learn how to juggle the aspects of the job."

 Middle-schoolers, he says, "are truly finding out who they are. You always need to be sensitive to that." It takes equal parts talking to them and listening to them, he says. A key is earning their respect, he says. His charges always call him "Mister Galati," or "Mister G."

Holding up an embossed high school graduation invitation he recently received, he says that one of his greatest rewards is being remembered by students long after they have left his school.

As he speaks of his students' gratitude, he expresses his own for them and the staff at Robert Gray. Moving on to the next stage of his career, he says, "is like leaving home."
An alert for Food Front Board candidates


If you want to be on the Food Front Board of Directors, make sure you attend the next board meeting on Monday, June 23.

Food Front, a local cooperative grocery, expects to open a Hillsdale store in August in the Hillsdale Shopping center. Its volunteer board has eleven members, and three or four positions will be open when elections are held in September.

To be considered for nomination, prospective candidates must be co-op member/owners. The membership fee, which serves for a family as well, is $150, but it may be paid in $5 monthly installments.

Other requirements are that prospective board candidates must fill out an application and attend at least one board meeting. The next and final board meeting before nominations are chosen is June 23, 5:45 p.m., at the Holiday Inn at NW Vaughn and NW 23rd Avenue.

Tom Mattox, Food Front's outreach director, said that the board is responsible for ensuring that the cooperative is adhering to its mission and for providing a link between the owner/members and the store. The running of the co-op is left to the general manager, who reports to the board.

Food Front's only other store is on NW Thurman Street.

Member/owner voting this year will be in September with the results announced at October's annual meeting.

A nominating committee screens applicants and recommends to the full board the names to be put on the ballot. Mattox said he couldn't think of a time when an applicant was denied a place on the ballot, but it could happen under governance rules common to cooperatives.

For more about the board go to the Food Front web site.

Food Front's owner/membership of approximately 3300 has recently taken a spurt, thanks to new enrollees in Southwest Portland. "It's been amazing," said Mattox. The Food Front table at the Hillsdale Farmers' Market has been busy, he said. Food Front typically gets 30 or 40 new memberships a month. In May, Mattox reports, 200 signed up. "That really bodes well for the new store."

Work at the store is on schedule, he said. New floors, lighting, check-out counters and shelving are being installed. The opening date is expected to be sometime in August, probably late August.
Briefly:

Neveh Shalom's big bazaar

Neveh Shalom is holding its annual Re-Sale Bazaar June 12, 13, and 15. Items have been donated by more than 1000 families.

Admission to the big sale is free to everyone.

The hours are Thursday, June 12, 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., for Neveh Shalom members only and 5 p.m. to 8 p,m, open to the public; Friday and Sunday, June 13 and 15, 9 a.m.to 1 p.m., open to the public.

The sale is held at Neveh Shalom, 2900 SW Peaceful Lane,  off SW Dosch Road near Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway.

 Reminder: bookshelf-clearing time

Organizers of the Hillsdale Alliance Book Sale remind readers who want to put those unread or already read books to good use that it is book donation time again. Books will be accepted at the Hillsdale Farmers Market starting Sunday, June 29, and lasting through July 20.

Proceeds from the book sale, on Sunday, July 27, will benefit the organizations of the Hillsdale Alliance. Member organizations include  Hillsdale's three public schools, the neighborhood association, SW Trails, the business association, the farmers' market and Neighborhood House.

No used textbooks or other dated books or magazines, please. Cardboard boxes appreciated. Videos, DVDs and CDs welcomed.
Rick Seifert
Editor, Hillsdale News
(503) 245-7821
[email protected]